1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle provided with a silencer for reducing an exhaust noise exhausted from a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a fuel cell used for a fuel cell vehicle, a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell which employs solid polymer as an electrolyte membrane is commonly adopted. In this kind of fuel cell vehicle, power generation is carried out by the electrochemical reaction between air and hydrogen within the fuel cell. The air not used for the power generation is externally exhausted through an exhaust pipe together with water created by the electrochemical reaction. Further, since the fuel cell is supplied with high pressure air, the high pressure exhaust gas flows through the exhaust pipe. Therefore, the exhaust pipe is provided with a silencer for reducing a noise (see Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication JP-A-2003-291657 for example).
However, since a thin electrolyte membrane partitions an anode electrode (hydrogen electrode) and a cathode electrode (oxygen electrode) as for the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, the hydrogen supplied to the anode electrode permeates the cathode electrode via electrolyte membrane. As a result, the exhaust gas may contain a minute amount of hydrogen. For such a portion which may contain hydrogen, there has been a demand for solving a problem of a static electricity being generated in a condition such as dry environment.